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Commissioners backtracking again, might consider appointee who will run for seat

Commissioner Sylvia Moffett made an 11th-hour plea to her colleagues at Thursday’s agenda review meeting, begging them to consider candidates for next week’s commission appointment who might run for the seat.

The commission will appoint a replacement next Thursday to replace the late Bill Moss. Although commissioners cannot legally bar an appointee from running for the seat, a majority of commissioners have previously said they want an appointee who won’t run to avoid giving that person an incumbency advantage. If the appointee were to run and get elected, half of the commission (Moffett, Mayor Jeri Muoio and the new District 5 commissioner) would have initially been placed on the commission by appointment.

“Part of the problem is people are not applying because they believe that we are going to pick someone who is not going to run,” Muoio said.

Numerous candidates, including St. Mary’s Assistant Administrator Don Chester, former city and county commissioner Carol Roberts, former county GOP chairman Bernard Kimmel and Realtor Linda Cullen have said they will not run if appointed. But Moffett wants a larger pool to choose from.

Commissioner Ike Robinson said he was never going to make that a stipulation in his decision. Robinson reminded Moffett that an appointee only needs the vote of three commissioners (or two commissioners and the mayor).

James

With appointment applications due Monday at noon, Commissioner Keith James said he wasn’t necessarily against an appointee running, but said he didn’t want to make some big announcement that commissioners had changed their mind again. No members of the media were at agenda review (recordings are public record), and Moffett suggested contacting the media or having a press conference to say they would consider applications from people who want to run for the seat.

“To come out and say there’s a consensus of three commissioners makes us look wishy washy,” James said. “Individually, we can consider any factors we want.”

Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, who in past appointments has considered only applicants who won’t run for the seat, was not at the meeting.

West Palm Beach Democratic Club President Gregg Weiss has announced he will run for the seat in March. He previously said he would seek the appointment if commissioners would consider someone who wants to run for the seat.

At Thursday’s meeting, James also criticized City Attorney Claudia McKenna for suggesting a provisional election to fill the seat with lawyers now saying that is not a legal option.

“Claudia, I love you to death, and I’ve sat in your seat as an attorney. I’m not going to Monday Morning Quarterback,” James said. “I do believe you have done us a disservice by even referencing a provisional election and throwing that out as an option when it’s not authorized in code or charter and we don’t even know if it’s authorized in state law. … Now we as the public servants, the public is looking at us so we seem like we’ve gone down this road toward a provisional election when in actuality it ain’t authorized.”

McKenna said she took “full responsibility,” and acknowledged she hadn’t done any legal research prior to the suggestion, but said just because something is not in city code does not mean it’s necessarily illegal.